Tony Clarke (activist)
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
activist
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
. Born in 1944, he grew up in Chilliwack, British Columbia
Chilliwack, British Columbia
Chilliwack is a Canadian city in the Province of British Columbia. It is a predominantly agricultural community with an estimated population of 80,000 people. Chilliwack is the second largest city in the Fraser Valley Regional District after Abbotsford. The city is surrounded by mountains and...
, graduating from Chilliwack Senior Secondary School
Chilliwack Secondary School
Chilliwack Secondary is a public high school in Chilliwack, British Columbia part of School District 33 Chilliwack. The first Chilliwack Secondary was established in 1903. The school moved to its present site in 1950. It is under going construction soon to convert it to a hybrid high school and...
in 1962. He was class president. He studied at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
and did graduate work at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, obtaining a PhD in the history of religion. He presented a dissertation titled The Color Line and the American Metropolis: A Search for a Form of Ministry in the Aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago (1974). After Chicago, he worked for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is the national assembly of the Bishops of the Catholic Church in Canada. It was founded in 1943 and was officially recognized by the Holy See in 1948. Since the Second Vatican Council, it became part of a worldwide network of Episcopal Conferences,...
for 21 years, serving as Director of Social Policy.
Clarke was the chair of the Action Canada Network, a coalition of labor groups and activists to lead the battle against the 1987 Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement
Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement
The Free Trade Agreement was a trade agreement signed by Canada and the United States on October 4, 1988. The agreement, finalized by October 1987, removed several trade restrictions in stages over a ten year period, and resulted in a great increase in cross-border trade...
. These activists joined forces with anti-free traders from Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to oppose the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
. As a result of his leadership role in the anti-free trade movement, Clarke was fired from the Conference of Bishops.
As a response to his firing, Clarke wrote Behind the Mitre: The Moral Leadership Crisis in the Canadian Catholic Church (Toronto: HarperCollins, 1995), analyzing the role of the Catholic Church and Church-State relations in the previous two decades.
In the years since leaving the Conference of Bishops, Clarke has continued his activism, working closely with Maude Barlow
Maude Barlow
Maude Victoria Barlow is a Canadian author and activist. She is the National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians, a citizens’ advocacy organization with members and chapters across Canada. She is also the co-founder of the , which works internationally for the human right to water...
of the Council of Canadians. In 1997 he formed the Polaris Institute
Polaris Institute
The Polaris Institute is a Canadian think tank based in Ottawa. Its stated goal is "to help empower citizen movements towards democratic social change"...
http://www.polarisinstitute.org/, and led the campaigns against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment
Multilateral Agreement on Investment
The Multilateral Agreement on Investment was a draft agreement negotiated between members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 1995–1998. Its ostensible purpose was to develop multilateral rules that would ensure international investment was governed in a more...
, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim countries that seeks to promote free trade and economic cooperation throughout the Asia-Pacific region...
, and the World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
.
As a result of his activist work, he and Maude Barlow were awarded the 2005 Right Livelihood Award
Right Livelihood Award
The Right Livelihood Award, also referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize", is a prestigious international award to honour those "working on practical and exemplary solutions to the most urgent challenges facing the world today". The prize was established in 1980 by Jakob von Uexkull, and is...
http://www.rightlivelihood.org/recip/2005/barlow-and-clarke.htm.
Books
Clarke has authored several books:- Behind the Mitre: The Moral leadership Crisis in the Canadian Catholic Church (1995);
- Silent Coup:Confronting the Big Business Takeover of Canada (1997);
- MAI: The Multilateral Agreement on Investment & the Threat to Canadian Sovereignty (1997) with Maude Barlow;
- MAI: The Multilateral Agreement on Investment & the Threat to American Democracy (1998) with Maude Barlow;
- MAI Round 2: New Global And Internal Threats To Canadian Sovereignty (1998) with Maude Barlow;
- Global Showdown: How the new Activists are Fighting Global Corporate Rule' (2001) with Maude Barlow;
- Challenging McWorld (2001 with Sara Dopp; revised and updated 2006)
- Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water (2003) with Maude Barlow;
- Inside the Bottle: Exposing the Bottled Water Industry (2005 revised and updated in 2007).
- Tar Sands Showdown: Canada and the New politics of Oil in an Age of Climate Change. (2008)
Films
Clarke stars in the feature documentary Blue Gold: World Water WarsBlue Gold: World Water Wars
Blue Gold: World Water Wars is an award-winning 2008 documentary by Sam Bozzo, based on the book Blue Gold: The Right to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke....
by Sam Bozzo
Sam Bozzo
Sam Bozzo is an American film director and author.Bozzo wrote, directed, and edited three short films. For Which It Stands was screened in the Sundance Film Festival. The Shadowed Cry was created as a Top 10 Director assignment for Project Greenlight, run by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck...
.
He is also featured in a documentary on the tar sands, H2OIL by Shannon Walsh.
External links
- Information on Right Livelihood Award website
- Video interview "Is the U.S. Annexing Mexico and Canada?"